Phibbs goes back to Indiana prison

Monday

Jul 21, 2014 at 7:00 PM

By Don Reiddwreid@aol.comCOLDWATER — Austin Phibbs will go back to an Indiana prison to finish his term there after a plea to child abuse third degree in a criminal sexual conduct case in Branch County.Phibbs, 20, had demanded a speedy trial on his CSC charge here, which would have meant a consecutive Michigan term if convicted.A then 13-year-old girl testified at a preliminary exam that Phibbs had lured her into the back seat of a car on a farm on the state line in the summer of 2011, where he raped her. Phibbs was 18 at the time.In November 2012 before his arrest in Michigan for CSC, Phibbs was arrested in Steuben County, Indiana, charged with assault and injury to a minor child. That charge came after a 1-year-old boy was taken to Parkview Regional Medical Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana with internal injuries.Phibbs admitted to neglect causing injury and was sentenced in February 2013 to three years prison and three years probation. His demanded speedy trial in Michigan came, so he did not have to wait until his Indiana term was over for case to be processed here.After the Branch County victim became concerned about facing Phibbs at jury trial, Phibbs entered into a plea bargain to the child abuse charge in a plea bargain in Branch County. That conviction means he will not have to register as a sex offender.Branch County Circuit Judge Bill O’Grady sentenced Phibbs to one year time served on the two-year felony and Phibbs was returned to Westonville prison in Indiana.